Committee on Energy, Industry and Labor, Economic
Development and Small Business then the Judiciary.]

A BILL to amend and reenact §46A-6-102 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §47-10-6a
of said code, all relating to prohibiting fractional pricing
in the retail sale of gasoline and defining such pricing as an
unfair or deceptive practice.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §46A-6-102 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that §47-10-6a of said code
be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:

CHAPTER 46A. WEST VIRGINIA CONSUMER CREDIT

AND PROTECTION ACT.

ARTICLE 6. GENERAL CONSUMER PROTECTION.

§46A-6-102. Definitions.

When used in this article, the following words, terms and
phrases, and any variations thereof required by the context, shall
have the meaning ascribed to them in this article, except where the
context indicates a different meaning:

(1) "Advertisement" means the publication, dissemination or
circulation of any matter, oral or written, including labeling,
which tends to induce, directly or indirectly, any person to enter
into any obligation, sign any contract or acquire any title or
interest in any goods or services and includes every word device to
disguise any form of business solicitation by using such terms as
"renewal", "invoice", "bill", "statement" or "reminder" to create
an impression of existing obligation when there is none or other
language to mislead any person in relation to any sought-after
commercial transaction.

(2) "Consumer" means a natural person to whom a sale or lease
is made in a consumer transaction and a "consumer transaction"
means a sale or lease to a natural person or persons for a
personal, family, household or agricultural purpose.

(3) “Cure offer” means a written offer of one or more things
of value, including, but not limited to, the payment of money, that
is made by a merchant or seller and that is delivered by certified
mail to a consumer claiming to have suffered a loss as a result of
a consumer transaction or to the attorney for such person.

(4) "Merchantable" means, in addition to the qualities
prescribed in section three hundred fourteen, article two, chapter
forty-six of this code, that the goods conform in all material
respects to applicable state and federal statutes and regulations
establishing standards of quality and safety of goods and, in the
case of goods with mechanical, electrical or thermal components,
that the goods are in good working order and will operate properly
in normal usage for a reasonable period of time.

(5) "Sale" includes any sale, offer for sale or attempt to
sell any goods for cash or credit or any services or offer for
services for cash or credit.

(6) "Trade" or "commerce" means the advertising, offering for
sale, sale or distribution of any goods or services and shall
include any trade or commerce, directly or indirectly, affecting
the people of this state.

(7) "Unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive
acts or practices" means and includes, but is not limited to, any
one or more of the following:

(A) Passing off goods or services as those of another;

(B) Causing likelihood of confusion or of misunderstanding as
to the source, sponsorship, approval or certification of goods or
services;

(C) Causing likelihood of confusion or of misunderstanding as
to affiliation, connection or association with or certification by
another;

(D) Using deceptive representations or designations of
geographic origin in connection with goods or services;

(E) Representing that goods or services have sponsorship,
approval, characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits or
quantities that they do not have or that a person has a
sponsorship, approval, status, affiliation or connection that he or
she does not have;

(F) Representing that goods are original or new if they are
deteriorated, altered, reconditioned, reclaimed, used or
secondhand;

(G) Representing that goods or services are of a particular
standard, quality or grade, or that goods are of a particular style
or model if they are of another;

(H) Disparaging the goods, services or business of another by
false or misleading representation of fact;

(I) Advertising goods or services with intent not to sell them
as advertised;

(J) Advertising goods or services with intent not to supply
reasonably expectable public demand, unless the advertisement
discloses a limitation of quantity;

(K) Making false or misleading statements of fact concerning
the reasons for, existence of or amounts of price reductions;

(L) Engaging in any other conduct which similarly creates a
likelihood of confusion or of misunderstanding;

(M) The act, use or employment by any person of any deception,
fraud, false pretense, false promise or misrepresentation, or the
concealment, suppression or omission of any material fact with
intent that others rely upon such concealment, suppression or
omission, in connection with the sale or advertisement of any goods
or services, whether or not any person has in fact been misled,
deceived or damaged thereby;

(N) Advertising, printing, displaying, publishing,
distributing or broadcasting, or causing to be advertised, printed,
displayed, published, distributed or broadcast in any manner, any
statement or representation with regard to the sale of goods or the
extension of consumer credit including the rates, terms or
conditions for the sale of such goods or the extension of such
credit, which is false, misleading or deceptive or which omits to
state material information which is necessary to make the
statements therein not false, misleading or deceptive;

(O) Representing that any person has won a prize, one of a
group of prizes or any other thing of value if receipt of the prize
or thing of value is contingent upon any payment of a service
charge, mailing charge, handling charge or any other similar charge
by the person or upon mandatory attendance by the person at a
promotion or sales presentation at the seller's place of business
or any other location: Provided, That a person may be offered one
item or the choice of several items conditioned on the person
listening to a sales promotion or entering a consumer transaction
if the true retail value and an accurate description of the item or
items are clearly and conspicuously disclosed along with the
person's obligations upon accepting the item or items; such
description and disclosure shall be typewritten or printed in at
least eight point regular type, in upper or lower case, where
appropriate; or

(P) Selling gasoline at a fractional-cent price, as prohibited
in section six-a, article ten, chapter forty-seven of this code; or

(P)(Q) Violating any provision or requirement of article six-b of this chapter.

(8) "Warranty" means express and implied warranties described
and defined in sections three hundred thirteen, three hundred
fourteen and three hundred fifteen, article two, chapter forty-six
of this code and expressions or actions of a merchant which assure
the consumer that the goods have described qualities or will
perform in a described manner.

(a) Any retail distributor of gasoline who sells gasoline to
which has been added any alcohol, whether methanol, ethanol or
other form of alcohol, shall post upon or near every pump
maintained for the delivery of gasoline to a consumer a prominent
notice stating the name of the alcoholic additive and the
percentage it comprises of the gasoline delivered through the
pumps.

(b) Notwithstanding any provision in this code to the
contrary, no retail distributor of gasoline may sell regular
unleaded, mid-grade, premium gasoline or diesel for a factional-cent price. For purposes of this subsection, "fractional-cent
price" means any price that includes a fraction of a cent.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit fractional
pricing in the retail sale of gasoline and to define such pricing
as an unfair or deceptive practice.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.